In the last few years the involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in memory processing has received increased attention. It has been shown to be centrally involved when we use prior knowledge (schemas) to improve learning of related material. With the mPFC also being one of the core hubs of the default mode network (DMN) and the DMN's role in memory retrieval, we decided to investigate whether the mPFC in a schema paradigm acts independent of the DMN. We tested this with data from a cross-sectional developmental study with a schema paradigm. During retrieval of schema items, the mPFC decoupled from the DMN with the degree of decoupling predicting memory performance. This finding suggests that a demand specific reconfiguration of the DMN supports schema memory. Additionally, we found that in the control condition, which relied on episodic memory, activity in the parahippocampal gyrus was positively related to memory performance. We interpret these results as a demand specific network reconfiguration of the DMN: a decoupling of the mPFC to support schema memory and a decoupling of the parahippocampal gyrus facilitating episodic memory.

中文翻译：

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内侧前额叶与默认模式网络的解耦有益于记忆

在过去几年中，内侧前额叶皮层 (mPFC) 在记忆处理中的参与受到越来越多的关注。当我们使用先验知识（模式）来改进相关材料的学习时，它已被证明是集中参与的。由于 mPFC 也是默认模式网络 (DMN) 的核心枢纽之一以及 DMN 在记忆检索中的作用，我们决定调查模式范式中的 mPFC 是否独立于 DMN 起作用。我们使用来自具有模式范式的横断面发展研究的数据对此进行了测试。在检索模式项期间，mPFC 与 DMN 解耦，解耦程度预测内存性能。这一发现表明 DMN 的特定需求重新配置支持模式记忆。此外，我们发现在控制条件下，依赖于情景记忆，海马旁回的活动与记忆表现呈正相关。我们将这些结果解释为 DMN 的需求特定网络重构：mPFC 的解耦以支持模式记忆和海马旁回的解耦促进情节记忆。